Reptile & Amphibian Forums

the guy at petsmart told me today that all tube and coil type flourescent bulbs give off uvb rays even if they dont say on the package. can i get uvb bulbs at walmart? i was looking for the coil type bulbs (self ballasted?) they are like 20-30$ at petstores.
thanks

the guy is wrong. most all types of glass block the uv wavelengths of light. including the glass used in most flourescent bulbs. thats one reason the UVB bulbs are so expensive - they have to have an extremly pure clean glass for the housing of the lamp. also the cheaper UVB bulbs don't emit the actual precentage of UVB you need more than 5-6 inches away from the bulb. ReptiSun emits it up to 12 inches.

while some bulbs may be producing minimal amounts of UVB, none are going to come anywhere close to 3, 5, or 8 percent...depending on your specific need. so no, dont listen to that guy. Remember where he works...Petco. Unless you happen to find a guy (or gal im not being sexist) whose particular hobby is in the reptile field or what have you...you're gonna get the average joe who has read a pamphlet and thats all he or she knows. be very careful when talking to petco or any large chain about stuff like that.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

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Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
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Big apple herp has some flouresent bulbs now that they say work up to 3ft away...they have a big blue add all over ks....its actually above this message at the moment..you might check those out...
Jason

>>the guy at petsmart told me today that all tube and coil type flourescent bulbs give off uvb rays even if they dont say on the package.

This is true, but not necessarily in the intensity or specific wavelengths that are supposed to be of benefit to reptiles.

>>i was looking for the coil type bulbs (self ballasted?)

Ironically I know of a zoo that buys a cheap self-ballasted, coil-type bulb from Home Depot that are identical to one of the bulbs sold in petstores. They even tested it with a $200 UV spectrometer and the readings were the same.

Now, to be fair, neither bulb produced that much UVB compared to some of the better reptile specific bulbs on the market. In other words, the petstore version is probably not worth the money they are charging to begin with.

They are fine for species with low UV requirements but probably not good for Iguanas, Bearded Dragons, or other diurnal lizards.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

thanks, i will be using these bulbs for nocturnal herps (red eyed tree frog and gargoyle geckos) they dont need the intensity other herps might need--if any at all, opinions differ on this--

so do the coil self ballasted bulbs give off more uvb than the tube type?
also , do all incandescent give off a reasonable amount of uva?
i am thinking its much the same as the flourescent where in it just depends on the bulb glass and such.

thank you all , i cant tell you how MUCH i have learned since joining this forum three months ago.

>>thanks, i will be using these bulbs for nocturnal herps (red eyed tree frog and gargoyle geckos) they dont need the intensity other herps might need--if any at all, opinions differ on this--

If it were me I'd probably use the self-ballasted/spiral-twist bulbs that screw into regular sockets. I would not buy a reptile specific bulb. These should provide a small amount of UVB and UVA. Many herps can see into the near UVA range so there may be slight behavioral benefits from small amounts of UV.

>>so do the coil self ballasted bulbs give off more uvb than the tube type?

No, absolutely not. There is one compact flourescent on the market that gives off a lot of UVB and UVA but it is not the same as the self-ballasted type you screw into regular incandescent fixtures. I believe it is an ESU product. It may actually be self-ballasted, but it fits into a special CF socket and is not coiled up like the bulbs we are discussing. So you don't need to worry about confusing the two.

In general mercury vapor bulbs give off the highest intensity of UV light. 4' tubes ran by T-12 ballasts are the next highest. With the exception of the ESU CF bulb I just mentioned all other bulbs supposedly give off very small amounts of UV. Way below mercury vapors and the various 4' reptile specific bulbs.

>>also , do all incandescent give off a reasonable amount of uva?

No. If anything I'd say most give off very small amounts. But that's a guess.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Did a bit more research on compact fluorescents (CF's).

The ESU product does seem to require a double pin fixture rathern than a typical screw-in fixtures. You can sort of see that here:

http://www.esuweb.com/products/602ESU_Reptile_Compact_Fluorescent_Lamps_Reptile_Compact_Fluorescent_Lamps_(Japanese_Square_Pin_Base)_DESERT_7%25_UVB_COMPACT_FLUORESCENT_LAMP_55_WATT_22_INCH.htm

But now it appears that Big Apple has introduced a CF lamp that can be used in a standard incandescent fixture:

http://www.bigappleherp.com/Reptile_Supplies/Product/UVB_Mystic_Fluorescent_Light_Series_262300.html

Also, Zoo Med's CF bulbs screw into normal fixtures:

http://www.reptiledirect.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=932

Lastly, The Bean Farm carries a CF that is supposed to produce a lot of UV. It also screws into a normal socket. You can find it at the bottom of this page:

http://www.beanfarm.com/lighting/3.html

None of these bulbs are the spiral-twist or coil-type CF's. However, some of them do screw into a standard socket. So I think my information has been somewhat misleading. For all I now some of the reptile-specific coil-type bulbs may actually produce a decent amount of UV. I don't know.

Still, for tree frogs and nocturnal geckos smaller amounts of UV are probably unecessary and perhaps even slightly dangerous. I still think a regular CF from Walmart, etc. is probably fine for those herps.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)